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Louise Gabriele Böhm (née Mailänder) * 1855

Hallerstraße 70 (Eimsbüttel, Rotherbaum)

1942 Theresienstadt
Tot 02.10.1942

Luise Gabriele Böhm, née Mailaender, born 10 Sep. 1855 in Fürth, Bavaria, deported 15 July 1942 to Theresienstadt, died there 2 Oct. 1942

Hallerstraße 70

Luise Gabriele Böhm was born on 10 September 1855 in Fürth to the brewery owner Wolf Wilhelm Loeb Mailaender (1820–1872) and his wife Jeanette, née Hesselberger (1830–1889). Luise Gabriele grew up with 12 siblings: Leonhard (*1848), Aurelie (*1850), Paul (*1851), Victoria (*1853), Heinrich (*1854), Julius-Ludwig (*1857), Justus-Joseph (*1859), Robert (*1860), Elisabeth Elsa (*1861), Carl-Robert (*1863), Emilie (*1866) and Richard (*1869). All of the children were born in Fürth.

At the beginning of his professional career, Wolf Wilhelm Loeb Mailaender worked as a sales representative, and later established himself as a merchant. In 1846 the authorities refused to allow him to establish a business in Fürth, but one year later he was allowed to work there as a cloth merchant. In that year he also married Jeanette Hesselberger. While running his business, he also worked as a real estate agent in Fürth and Nuremberg, thus generating the capital for further business endeavors. Beginning in 1853, Wolf Mailaender specialized in hops trading, which proved to be the beginning of a successful family business. In 1862 he bought two established breweries and developed his own ideas for making this investment profitable: a day-trip locale with a restaurant, music pavilion, and a beer garden. It was commonly called the "Fürth Prater."

Wolf Mailaender died in 1872 at the age of 52. His widow inherited the business and ran it for a short time, then the two eldest sons Leonhard and Paul took over. In 1883 they decided to move the brewery, and had a new building constructed on a hill overlooking the Wolfsschlucht – and the residents of Fürth promptly dubbed the brewery the Berg Bräu.

Fürth was the center of Judaism in Franconia. Up until the last third of the 19th century, the city had the largest Jewish population in southern Germany. Jews had settled in Fürth as early as the 15th century, and two centuries later the city had developed a lively Jewish life with synagogues, prayer houses and charitable institutions. In the 18th century, Jews who had been expelled from Bavaria settled in Fürth. The city had become the spiritual center of Orthodoxy with its own Talmud academy. Because the scholars needed large quantities of literature, prayer books, etc., a printing company was founded in 1682. It was the first of what would be many Hebrew printers in the city. With the onset of industrialization in the 19th century, Fürth experienced a considerable economic upswing: the mirror industry was as much at home here as the hops and livestock trade.

Wolf Mailaender's daughter Luise Gabriele probably lived in her parents' house until she married Karl Böhm in 1874, shortly before her 19th birthday. Böhm (born 1848 in Burgkunstadt, died 1890 Hamburg) was the owner of a yeast factory. It was his second marriage. The couple first lived in Fürth, where all of their four children were born: Wilhelm (*1875–1938, Hamburg), Paul-Eugen (*1876–1941, Hamburg), Rosa (*1877) and Franz (*1880–1934). Towards the end of the 1880s, the family moved to Hamburg and initially lived on Seilerstraße in St. Pauli. Karl Böhm died on 11 April 1890, aged 42. Luise’s mother had died a year earlier, and she was now alone with four children.

Around the turn of the century, Luise's son Wilhelm built up an import and export business for hides and skins, in which his brother Paul-Eugen also worked. By that time the family was living at Hallerstraße 2. It was in Hamburg that Wilhelm met his future wife Minna Wagnitz (1891–1973), the daughter of the furrier Hermann Wagnitz (*1850) and his wife Maria (*1851), née Hanheide. Wilhelm registered as a member of the Jewish Community of Hamburg in 1909. Minna Böhm was Protestant. In 1913, a new generation entered the world: Carl-Ludwig was born on 22 October, and his sister Ruth Margarethe Gabriele saw the light of day on 3 June1918. The couple married after the birth of their son, on 10 August 1914.

Paul-Eugen Böhm was married to Olga-Helene Jessen (*1880), who was also Protestant. Their son Edgar-Paul was born on 3 January 1906 in Altona. Their second child Rolf Erwin Norbert was born on 30 June 1913. Sometime after that Olga-Helene Böhm died, but the exact date is unknown.

No information was found about Luise Böhm’s daughter Rosa.

Luise's youngest son Franz’s wife’s name was Ida. Their daughter Margot-Carla, who later called herself Maud, was born in 1908 in England. She died in 1970 in South Africa. No further information was found.

After William Böhm's company had become established, the family moved to Hansastraße in 1910, where they lived until the 1930s. The family was very close, and the two brothers and their wives lived there for a few years. It was only around 1925 that Wilhelm and his wife Minna moved to Hoheluftchaussee. In the mid-1930s, Paul Böhm and his family found their own apartment in Eppendorf.

The life of the family changed substantially when the Nazis came to power. The 1 April 1933 boycott against Jewish businesses and shops probably also affected Wilhelm Böhm's company. According to the Nuremberg Laws, Wilhelm and Paul-Eugen were considered "full Jews," their marriages were "mixed marriages,” and their children were "first degree Mischlinge (half-breeds)." The families’ incomes fluctuated sharply over the next few years.

In 1938, Wilhelm's son Carl-Ludwig returned to Hamburg from a job abroad. He intended to take over his father's 40-year-old business, but was not permitted to do so because he was Jewish. The company was liquidated. Carl-Ludwig Böhm found a new job with an export company in the Chilehaus, which planned to assign him to its offices in South Africa. But shortly before his departure, the foreign organization (Auslandsorganisation, - A.O.) of the NSDAP, in which party members living outside the German Reich were organized, objected to his Jewish heritage. He was not allowed to work in South Africa. Instead, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1939. While other "first-degree Mischlinge" were released from duty in 1940, he was one of the few who was given special permission to remain until 1945. He served in the signal corps.

The persecution distressed Wilhelm Böhm so much that he suffered a stroke, from which he never recovered. He died on July 28 1938 in Hamburg. At that time he and his wife were living on Isestraße, where Minna Böhm remained until her death in 1973.

Paul-Eugen Böhm’s tax records with the Jewish Community listed no income for the years from 1937 onwards. He was reduced to receiving welfare subsidies, since he was no longer allowed to work. At some point he was forced to move to the "Jews’ house" at Schlachterstraße 40-42 (Großneumarkt in the Neustadt), where he died of heart disease on 6 December 1941.

His eldest son Edgar was a dentist with his own practice. Rolf, his other son, had left Hamburg in 1936. He "went underground" in Berlin and survived, but details are unknown.

Luise Böhm, who turned 86 in 1941, had survived her three sons. In the 1960s her granddaughter Margot Böhm remembered the elegant and tastefully furnished apartment on Hansastraße. There were Persian carpets, chandeliers, and paintings. But the formerly comfortable financial situation had worsened significantly. After her son Wilhelm’s death, Luise had given her "Aryan" daughter-in-law Minna a portion of her assets, so that debts and running costs from the liquidation of the business could be paid. Her sons Wilhelm and Franz had paid her a small pension, which was now gone. Several moves - to Isestraße, Bismarckstraße and Grindelberg, each time as a boarder – reduced her household possessions substantially. She gradually sold off furniture and household items to support herself. In 1940, the main tax office required Luise Böhm to submit a statement of assets. According to this statement, she had about 200 Reichsmarks.

Luise Gabriele Böhm’s last address in Hamburg was the "Jews’ house" at Bogenstraße 25, where she lived in cramped conditions. This house had originally belonged to the Z.H. May Foundation and had been turned over to the Jewish Religious Association. Luise Böhm was deported to Theresienstadt on July 15, 1942, where she died on 2 October 1942.

About a month after her deportation, her remaining property was auctioned off. The proceeds, 85 RM, went to the main tax office.

What do we know about Luise Böhm’s siblings and their children?

Leonhard Mailaender (1848–1928) never married. He and his brother Paul took over the operation of the brewery in Fürth after the death of their father in 1872. Leonhard died in 1928 in Fürth.

Aurelie Mailaender (1850–1942) married the businessman Feodor Warschauer (1842–1881). They lived in Berlin. Feodor Warschauer owned a clothing wholesale business, probably together with his brother Sally. The couple had three children, all of whom were born in Berlin: Wilhelmine (called Wally), Robert, and Fritz. We were unable to find any information about Robert.

Fritz Warschauer (*1877) married Hilda Dorn (*1891, Berlin–1954). They had two children: Fritz, jr. (*1920) and Marianne (1913–1986). In 1939 the family was living in Berlin-Charlottenburg. It is not known where they survived the Nazi regime.

Wilhelmine (1872–1943) married Felix Goldmann. They lived in Berlin, where their two children Franz (1895–1970) and Feodora (1899–1942, Auschwitz) were born. There is no trace of the fate of her husband. In 1939 Wilhelmine was living with her unmarried daughter in Berlin-Dahlem. At some point the Nazis moved her to the Jewish Hospital at Iranische Straße 2, which had been turned into an assembly point for Jews who were to be deported. Five weeks before her grandmother and mother were deported, on 11 July 1942, Feodora Goldmann was deported to Auschwitz.

After the death of her husband, Aurelie Warschauer lived at various addresses. Her last residence was at Barbarossaplatz in Schöneberg. She and her daughter Wilhelmine Goldmann were deported to Theresienstadt on 19 August 1942. Aurelie died there on 12 October 1942. At the age of nearly 93, she was the oldest Jewish Holocaust victim from Fürth. Wilhelmine Goldmann survived her mother by only a few months. She died on 13 April 1943 in Theresienstadt. Stolpersteine in memory of Aurelie, Wilhelmine, and Feodora were placed at their last residence.

Paul Mailaender (1851–1918) was married to Alice Bloch (1865, Nuremberg–1959, Fürth). Their children Lucy (1886–1978, Hartwick/USA) and Fritz (1897–1984, Bad Kissingen) were born in Fürth. Lucy married the merchant and factory owner Simon Büchenbacher (1872–1937, Hamburg) in 1909. She wrote books for children, especially for beginning readers. She published the books under the name Lucy Malden. She collaborated with various illustrators, and wrote short texts for the pictures. Some of her titles were Der lustige Bauernhof (The Funny Farm) or Puppchens Geburtstag (Puppchen’s Birthday). The books are still in print today. Lucy and Simon’s first child Hans Wolfgang was born on 12 October 1910. Their daughter Stefanie was born almost two years later on 9 June 1912. The children inherited the brewery after the death of their father.

Paul Mailaender’s son Fritz (1897–1984, Bad Kissingen) was married to Ida Hirschmann. They had two children, Erika (*1927 and Walter (1931–1958). We don’t know if Ida died or if the couple divorced. Fritz remarried, this time to the widow Irene Hopf, née Landmann (1898–1994, Bad Kissingen), who had two children from her first marriage, Hans (1920–2010) and Lore (married name Schallinger). Hans later lived in the US, Lore in Israel.

Beginning in 1937, the Berg Bräu came under increasing political pressure, and Fritz Mailaender was forced to enter into sales negotiations. A Fürth brewery showed interest and a selling price in the amount of approx. 1.5 million Reichsmarks was agreed upon. The Nazis strongly recommended to the buyer that he step aside in favor of a party member, G. S., a later mail-order catalogue king. He, however, had over-extended his finances with the purchase of other Jewish companies. Both withdrew their offers. A new buyer was sought, and one was found in Karlsruhe. This one fulfilled expectations and agreed to build a hall for Nazi party events. The purchase price was now 400,000 Reichsmarks. Fritz Mailaender was informed that the brewery had been retroactively "Aryanized" at a price of 40,000 Reichsmarks. The sum was paid into a blocked account, to which he was not allowed access.

After the November Pogrom in 1938, Fritz Mailaender and his family moved to Nuremberg. In April 1939 he, his wife, and his son were able to emigrate to Palestine. His mother Alice received a visa for Switzerland in March 1940.

His sister Lucy lived briefly in Nuremberg in 1939 before emigrating with her children to the United States. There the family called themselves Baker. In the US, Hans Wolfgang married Karol Hansen (*1919), and they had a daughter, Carol Anne. Stefanie also married in the US.

Shortly after the end of the war, Fritz Mailaender returned to Fürth with his wife and mother. He immediately claimed the return of ownership of the brewery. On December 28, 1948, a court ordered that the business be returned to the Mailaender family. The corresponding entry into the commercial register was made on 1 May 1950. In lengthy court hearings, which lasted until 1954, the transfer of ownership and the resulting costs were clarified. The Mailaender family had to prove several times that they had been persecuted during the Nazi regime, and that the sales contract was not legal. In 1962 the brewery celebrated its 100th anniversary, with many dignitaries as guests. The Berg Bräu remained in the Mailaender family until 1974, when a competitor bought the company and closed it in 1977. In the early 1980s, the buildings were razed and a residential complex built on the property.

Victoria and Robert Mailaender both died in infancy, in 1854 and 1860 respectively.

Julius-Ludwig and Justus-Joseph Mailaender both died in 1883, in Fürth and New York respectively.

Heinrich Mailaender (1884–1939) married Frieda Büchenbacher (1858, Fürth–1956 London), a relative of Simon. Both of their children, Wilhelm (1881–1943) and Anna (1886–1956) were born in Fürth.

Elisabeth Elsa Mailaender (1861–1943) married Moritz Busse (1843–1923). They lived in Berlin, where their children Fritz (1886–1957) and Edgar (1888–1942, Auschwitz) were born. We were able to discover very little about their lives. At the taking of the census in 1939, Elisabeth Busse lived on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. Her son Fritz and his wife Elli (*1905) lived nearby. No other information was found.

Edgar Busse (1888–1942, Auschwitz) married the Frenchwoman Yvonne Santer (1892, Paris–1942, Auschwitz). Their daughter Sylvia was born on 18 May 1923, followed by Annette on 27 August 1925. Around 1930 the family was living in Berlin-Kohlhasenbrück, near the Griebnitz Lake. Edgar Busse recognized the pending threat of the Nazi regime early in the 1930s, and he and his family emigrated to France, where they thought they would be safe.

After the Germans occupied France in May-June 1940, the Wehrmacht confiscated a large public housing complex in Drancy, about 20 kilometers northeast of Paris. The complex became the Drancy Assembly and Transit Camp. It served the Nazis as the central detention camp for Jews and other persecuted persons. On 17 August 1942, the Busse family was separated, and Yvonne, Sylvia, and Annette were deported to Auschwitz. A few days later, on 26 August 1942, another transport left for Auschwitz. Edgar Busse was one of the deportees.

Elisabeth Elsa Busse was deported to Theresienstadt on 14 September 1942. She died there on 25 January 1943. Her death certificate states that the cause of death was erysipelas. A Stolperstein was placed in her memory at her last freely-chosen address.

Carl-Robert Mailaender (1863–1940) married Paula Ledermann (1855, Hamburg–1941). They lived in Berlin-Schöneberg. Nothing more is known about their fates.

Emilie Mailaender (1866. Fürth–1956, New York) married Julius Guttstadt on 29 July 1889 in Berlin. Their son Hans (1896–1975) was born a few years later. Hans married Riwa Kalmus, and they had a daughter, Barbara. Julius Guttstadt’s date of death is unknown. At the taking of the census in 1939, Emilie Guttstadt lived on Bayerische Straße in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. We were unable to find details on her successful emigration.

Luise’s youngest brother Richard Mailaender (1869–1926) converted to Protestantism in 1885. A few years later, on 26 March 1892, he married Maria Kobras (1869, Ering bei Passau–1945), who was Catholic. They lived in Munich until 1913. The couple had three children: Marie (1890, Munich–1970), Richard-Franz (1864, Passau–1982), and Aurelia (*1899, Munich). Richard Mailaender ran a detective agency until 1913. He and his family then moved to Garmisch, where they lived for three years before returning to Munich, where he worked as a banker.

Their eldest daughter Marie married Alfred Pax (1876, Altona–1929, Hanover) on 15 June 1916 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Their son Ernst Günther was born one year later, on 6 October 1917 in Berlin. On 21 August 1919 their son Werner was born in Hanover. He was killed in action in 1942. From February 1944 onwards, Marie Pax lived with her mother and sister Aurelie in Munich. In 1969 she moved to Rüsselsheim.

Her brother Richard-Franz studied at the Technical University in Munich and later found work as director of a pulp mill. He married Margarete Sterner (*1907, Mannheim) on 3 May 1928 in Mannheim. She had previously converted to Protestantism. Her parents were the manufacturer Hugo Sterner and his wife Jenny, née Musius. After their wedding the couple lived in Kelheim in Lower Bavaria. Their son Klaus-Werner was born on 21.8.1929 in Regensburg. The family emigrated to India around 1936 via England. In 1951 Richard-Franz Mailaender traveled from India to visit Munich.

Aurelie Mailaender was an artisan. She lived with her parents and then with her mother in Münich until 1933, when she moved to Leipzig. After the war she returned to Munich and married Gebhard Angst on 18 June 1958.


Translator: Amy Lee
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: September 2019
© Sonja Zoder

Quellen: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 8; 9; StaH 314-15/ R 1939-488 Oberfinanzpräsident; 332-5 Standesämter 7847-710/1890, 2259-3620/1891, 3213-82/1913, 1071-159/1937, 8153-379/1938, 1139-462/1941, 10266-878/1973; 351-11 Amt für Wiedergutmachung 646, 39319, 30604; Hamburger und Berliner Adressbücher; Geburts-Register Staatsarchiv Nürnberg; Nürnberger Adressbuch 1859; Einwohnermeldebogen Mailänder; Trau-Register; Sonderstandesamt Arolsen I/649-1950 (lt. Mitteilung Standesamt Fürth 2006); Alicke, Lexikon der jüdischen Gemeinden, S. 1359–1366; Bielefeldt, Geschichte der Juden, S. 32; Rühle, "Böse Kinder", S. 242; Auskunft Bärbel Kroh am 7.3.2015; URL: www.altstadtverein-fuerth.de am 4.12.2014; https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?query=lucy+malden&method=simpleSearch am 4.12.2014; http://www.myheritage.de/site-family-tree-72147731/mailaender am 14.12.2014; http://www.juedische-fuerther.de/index.php/memorbuch-opfer-der-shoah/opfer am 15.12.2014; http:/www.lbi.org am 3.1.2015; http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammellager_Drancy am 6.1.2015; http://bdi.memorialdelashoah.org/internet/jsp/core/MmsGlobalSearch.jsp am 6.1.2015; www.stadtarchiv-fuerth.de Ronald Langer per Mail am 13.2.2015; http://www.luise-berlin.de/lexikon/mitte/i/iranische_strasse.htm am 13.2.2015; http://tracingthepast.org/minority-census/census-database am 23.2.2015; http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSDAP/AO am 24.2.2015; Todesfallanzeige Theresienstadt; http://www2.holocaust.cz/en/victims/PERSON.ITI.304110 und ITI.14911 am 28.2.2015; http://www.fuerthwiki.de/ am 2.12.2014 und div. Mails am 2./3.3.2015 mit Kamran Salimi; Stadtarchiv München Brigitte Schmidt per Mail v. 17.3.2015; Auskünfte Bärbel Kroh, Ronald Langer, Reiner Rühle, Kamran Salimi und Brigitte Schmidt.
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